2010-03-29 11:45

BEIJING: Experts from the Chinese mainland and Taiwan will hold their second round of talks in Taipei from Wednesday to Thursday, to pave the way for a long-awaited economic deal that is expected to boost cross-Strait economic ties.

The two sides had worked hard to speed up the consultation process of the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) after the first expert-level talks in late January, said a press release from the mainland's Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits (ARATS) ?Monday.

Efforts on both sides had laid a favorable foundation for the new round of expert talks, the statement said.

The ECFA is intended to normalize mainland-Taiwan economic ties and bring the two economies closer.

The experts' meeting will focus on preparing the framework for formal ECFA discussions at the next round of talks between ARATS and its Taiwan counterpart,the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF), to take place in the first half of this year.

On March 17, Yang Yi, the spokesman of the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, told a press conference that the two sides should work together to complete the pact in June.